The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-01-05

wife and daughter OF Secretary Bayard F,
Mrs. George Bancroft; Mary G. Clarke,
the authoress; Dolores Fosta Santa
Anna, whose husband at one time was
the central figure in Mexico; Mrs. Will
lam p. Endicott of Salem; Mrs. A. T..
Stewart, Mrs. Horatio Seymour, Mrs.
f. ID. Morgan and Mrs. Fletcher Har-
per of New York; Mrs. Gideon Welles
of Hartford; Louisa Howard of Bur-
lngton, VT; Abbie Nourse, so many
years in the Denman Thompson Com
pany, and Daisy Murdoch, the actress.
The record of great disasters is not
as long as in former years, but some are
especially noteworthy. On August 81
severe earthquake shocks were expert
enced over wide territory in the
United States and eliminated at
Charleston, S. c., where sixty-one per-
sons were killed and millions of prop
erty destroyed. Many lives were lost
in mining disasters and fires. There
was considerable loss of life in rail-
road accidents on the Fitchburg rail-
road, on the Nickel Plate " road at
Silver Greek, N. Y, and on the North
western at Rio, Wisconsin. Tornadoes
and floods killed or drowned twenty
persons at Xenia, Ohio, seventy-fve in
Minnesota and smaller numbers in
la sd
vessels were destroyed and 100 per-
sons lost their lives in gales on the
great lakes. Floods did immense
damage at Galveston, Montreal, Sa-
bine Pass and in New England.
Several foreign steamers and other
vessels were lost, with many lives. The
steamer j. M. White was burned on
the Mississippi and twenty lives lost,
and a Russian steamer on the Volga,
with loss of 200 lives. Three thou
sand houses were burned in Akita, Ja-
pan. Six hundred persons were killed
and several towns destroyed by an
earthquake in the Grecian archipelago.
An earthquake and volcanic eruption
in New Zealand killed several hundred
persons and blew out the entire side of
large mountain. Many million dol
lars worth of property were destroyed
by rioters in Belgium. Many persons
were killed in riots in Holland, Ireland
and India. The cholera has carried
off thousands in China, Japan, South
ern Europe and the Argentine Repub-
lie. The criminal calendar is a long
one, and in respect to defalcations and
breaches of trust is quite as notable as
in other years. Among the remark
able instances may be mentioned the
million dollars embezzlement of Will
lam Gray, Jr., of Boston, who killed
himself the day after his crime was ex-
posed, and the Bartholomew and Nc
Neil defalcations.
As stated in the beginning of this
article, the year ended with favorable
prospects for business. The number
of business failures in the United
States in 1886 was 1884, decrease of
SOB, as compared with 1885, and de-
crease of $1O,000,O00 in liabilities.
Trade during the past half-year has
been very large and generally remu-
nerative. There were SOLO miles of
new main line railway track built in
1886, of which 500 miles were in Kan
sas. The iron and steel industries
were especially active during 1886. Up
to December there had been S105,-
100000 worth of property destroyed by
fire in the United States and Canada.
The foreign immigration for 1886 is
stated at about 100000 persons. 1t is
estimated that they brought about
$50, 100000 in money with them. The
immigration is gradually falling off, and
this is in part due to the laws prohibit
ing the landing of paupers and contract
labOrers on our shores.
1t is not improbable that on both
sides of the Atlantic the new year upon
which the world has just entered will
be a year of great surprises, and the I'M
folding of events will be followed with
peculiar vigilance by all newspapers
that mirror for their readers the form
and pressure of the time"